'Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo)'

Shot guerilla-style in 14 days in the Bronx, Joel Alfonso Vargas’ debut feature is a one of the most visually striking movies of the year. A rough-and-tumble, sun-dappled stateside kin to the life-on-the-margins tales of Andrea Arnold, Mad Bills to Pay is seen through the bleary eyes of Rico, a 19-year-old Dominican-American hustler who’s content to coast on life’s simple pleasures: video games, smoking weed, and chasing girls, ad infinitum. He lives with his mother, who works nights as a nurse, and bankrolls his lifestyle by illegally shilling homemade “nutties” (colorful cocktails of rum, vodka, and juice) on the beach.